Bernardine Evaristo

Unequivocally the best book I have read this year.

Every page is perfect, every sentence, gosh, every word. Evaristo takes twelve vastly different women, connected in ways obvious and subtle, profiling their lives, their agonies, their battles and loves, self-deceptions, losses, doubts, and triumphs. Throughout she maintains that delicate ironic tone that characterises much of the best of British literature.

This is a book very much of the now, touching on numerous current cultural debates, in a manner that feels authentic and precise. It is a truly polyphonic experience. This is great literature but also very much a novel in every sense of the word.

I cannot recommend highly enough.… (more)

I almost didn't read this book because it was described as "free verse," which isn't my favorite genre. However, I opened it up and Bernardine Evaristo drew me into stories upon stories that intertwined and circled back to people whose life stories I devoured. I can understand why this book won the 2019 Booker Prize. It is unforgettable, and the women whose lives I entered through this book will be in my heart and mind forever. A must-read for anyone interested in women's stories, England and the immigrant black experience there, and history. Most highly recommended.… (more)